Holiday Mantel

Taking a cue from Pam over at Mercantile Muse, I thought I'd show off the one other decorated thing in our house besides the Christmas tree- the mantel.  Since our house is still in DIY construction mode, we don't spread the decorations around because no one is going to see them.  The tree goes in the corner in our dining room, and the mantel is on the other side of the room, on the dining-room-side of our double-sided fireplace.  It's mostly covered with knick-knacks from students I had, or junk from places like the Christmas Tree Shop, but I really like all of the things that are up there and love to see them from year to year.  Plus, we have our stockings hung up.  We all have one, even Casey the poodle.

Our card wreath- much more full now!

 

Gus had a great time unwrapping everything this year, faster than I could even put things up.  It's going to be even more fun when we can finally expand from the dining room.  Do you have a mantel that you decorate or another place you put all of your small items?  My mom has a high shelf that's full of snowmen, for example, which is more coordinated than mine, but I like the mish-mash effect.